The UAB to award an honorary doctorate to Marie-Paule Kieny
The UAB decided to award five exceptional honorary doctorates as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The second to receive the award will be microbiologist Marie-Paul Kieny in a ceremony which will take place on 16 January at 12 noon at the conference hall of the Rectorat building. The event will be streamed live by the YouTube.
![Marie-Paul Kieny](/Imatge/269/1022/kieny,0.png)
Marie-Paule Kieny is president of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and works for the free transfer of patents of her microbiology research, focused on diseases mainly affecting developing nations. She was also Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation and achieved the development and concession of licences of new vaccines against pandemic diseases (malaria, zika and ebola). She has published over 350 articles, mainly in the area of infectious diseases, immunology, vaccines, and healthcare systems. Among other distinctions, she has been awarded the titles of Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite dfrom the French Ministry for Research and the Chevalier dans l'Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur.
The honorary doctorate awarded to Kieny corresponds with the axis of solidarity. It will be the second doctorate to be awarded this year, after sculptor Jaume Plensa received his doctorate corresponding to the axis of cultural identity. The remaining honorary doctorates will be awarded to lawyer Caddy Adzuba (freedom of expression), journalist Joaquim Maria Puyal (commitment to the Catalan language and society), and physicist Lisa Randall (knowledge).